A large jointer plane I made

[george wilson]

There have been some requests for more pictures. I finally got some made today.

This is a 29" jointer I made many years ago It is quite massive in person. 3 3/4" square body,made from a very old piece of maple that had started to be a bed post so long ago it had turned quite brown. The silvery object in front of the plane is a 2' stainless steel rule.

I don't see why hard maple would not make a plane superior to beech. Beech is not as hard,and certainly not the most stable wood I have ever used. It twists all over the place while drying.

I sometimes used to use a wooden tool as a test bed for varnish formulas I was trying at the time. The varnish on this plane needed more linseed oil,and has crazed some. Such is learning. It is brown like some of the 18th.C. varnishes because it was cooked in the presence of iron,absorbing iron oxide which can never fade in the future.

The blade is 3/16" thick. Once the plane is given a good shove,its weight would carry it through a long stroke. I used to carry it over to the Book Bindery,and plane the long top of the wooden vise they clamped books in to plane their pages evenly with the plough plane.

There is a diamond shaped ebony striking knob on the top of the plane.

Feel free to copy the handle if you wish,for your OWN use.

In the background is a longrifle I am getting somewhat nearly done with. The block of wood with the swab of glue on it is a piece of applewood which has vanished into my secret stash.:)


I failed to get the front stamping of the plane in focus,and Mack Headley was coming over,so I hadn't time to re do the picture before darkness came. You can make out the stamp. Sorry,my name is just in the ribbon. My photography is miserable anyway.

One of these days I'll strip the old varnish off,and oil the plane. It always served me well,and has some battle scars.

[Peter Pedisich]

Now that's a REGAL looking plane!
I think wood jointers make some of the most beautiful planes, and thats among the nicest I've seen. the stout body contasted with the delicate detail on the tote works very well to my eye.
Thanks so much for sharing, George.

[David Weaver]

The fact that it looks a bit like a try plane at that length (by proportion) is a testament to how wide and tall it is.

I like the matching profile at the top of the iron and the wedge, and the decision to add a third dimension to the top of the horn (or am i seeing things?). Perfect carving/rasping on the tote and in front of the abutments (whatever that relief area is called).

Nice deep stamp too, very tasteful.

[george wilson]

Actually,the ribbon was carved in.

I was too stingy to reduce the size of the wood!!!!:) I left it as large as possible after planing the dust off of it.

The top of the tote is convex. Not sure what you mean by 3rd. dimension.

[David Weaver]

The third dimension referring to the convexity on the top instead of just leaving it flat across.

Pimpy on the carving!

[Archie England]

would that be a "frigate" class or a DDE class vessel?

Simply massive! And, quite nice looking!

[george wilson]

The plane is also loaded with raw linseed oil. I clamped the empty body down,and put window putty in the bottom of the throat. Window putty does the best job of keeping the oil from leaking out the bottom of the plane,though a small amount will leak. It took several escapements full of oil as the oil bled clear through both ends of the plane. This added to the heft.

I recall last year some controversy over whether the oil would ever harden. I have done this to several of my planes,and never have had a problem with oil leaking out anywhere,and this plane must be 30 years old by now. Maybe 35 is closer.

[Jamie Bacon]

Wow. What a beautiful and massive plane. I really like the diamond shape ebony strike button. And the very graceful tote. Is it off-set or centered? Either way, I'll go ahead and put my order in for one now. That and a jointer should do it. Well, and maybe a smoother while you're at it. :)

Jamie Bacon

[Chris Vandiver]

George,

That handle is something else! Simply graceful!! I really like how the ellipse(finger hole) delicately terminates near the top of the handle. Wonderful plane and a nice length as well.

May I ask, did you use raw linseed oil or boiled?

[george wilson]

To fill the plane I used raw,so it wouldn't harden up too fast. The oil needs to bleed clear through the plane body at both ends. If the wood is REAL old and dry,this becomes more possible,as the oil can penetrate further.

[Chen-Tin Tsai]

Awesome plane! That sure beats any run of the mill jointer I've ever seen!

I have a question about this quote, though.

I used to carry it over to the Book Bindery,and plane the long top of the wooden vise they clamped books in to plane their pages evenly with the plough plane
When they clamp the book in place, do they plane it to smooth out the edges of the pages? What's the purpose fo the plough plane for that?

[george wilson]

A plough plane has a sideways cutting knife point like edge. When books are assembled,their pages are not all exactly the same length and width. The plough plane has a screw feed you turn every time you stroke it over the book,shearing off the pages nice and even all the way across. Google book binding and research it. I made their plough planes,too,but took no pictures.

[Niels Cosman]

Very nice work Mr. Wilson!
The shaping of the tote is really stunning!
ps. keep the pictures/posts coming, it's always a pleasure to see more examples of your excellent works!

[Leigh Betsch]

Looks very nice. One of these days I hope to make a big jointer, I think I'll steal the tote design.

[george wilson]

It's yours.

[Leigh Betsch]

Try as I might I don't think mine will be the same. But I am going to try to emulate the master. It will give me someting to do while I wait for my O1 drill rod to come so I can make some rope knurls!

[george wilson]

Blow up the direct sideways shot I provided for that purpose. Make the oval large enough for your hand,and be very careful about sawing it out and sculpting it accurately.

[george wilson]

Forgot to mention: The blade is 3" wide,and 3/16" thick 01. It is polished,but I need to touch it up a little. Tiny brown pinpricks are beginning to appear.

[Jim Koepke]

George,

Thanks for sharing your work.

It is inspirational.

jtk

[john brenton]

George,

Can you tell us how you made that stamp?

[george wilson]

If you mean the ribbon,I just carved it in a little over 1/32"+ deep. It just looks stamped. I could make the stamp,of course,but haven't a lot of use for a big one like that,and it would be VERY HARD to drive a big stamp like that into the wood. Then,I punched my name in with individual letters with serifs. I don't have a name stamp with my name in a curve (actually,I DO now,if I ground away the rest of the information,now outdated,that is on the stamp. (it says my name,and Jon Laubach's name,and makers in Wmsbg. Va on it. From the Toolmaker's shop years. Maybe I should do that.

[Peter Pedisich]

Forgot to mention: The blade is 3" wide,and 3/16" thick 01. It is polished,but I need to touch it up a little. Tiny brown pinpricks are beginning to appear.

3" wide blade and a 29" long oil-soaked 3.75" square body... you'd better be in shape to push that through white oak!

[george wilson]

I am pretty big. WAS 6'5",now lost 2" from discs compressing. I did regularly dress the birch top of the book binder's plough plane press with it. Thin shavings!! You have to start the plane off with a sudden,very fast shove,keep it up,and it would carry on across. Not a plane for girly men!! Ach nein!!

[Steve Branam]

would that be a "frigate" class or a DDE class vessel?

Simply massive! And, quite nice looking!

I would call it dreadnought, because that thing dreads nought!

I look forward to the day when I find something with a GW, Maker stamp in the wild at some antique store. I'll plunk down my cash and make a rapid escape!

[george wilson]

All very kind words. Glad that all of you enjoy the pictures. As relatively few tools as I have made,compared to big makers like Disston,etc., a flea market find will be rare! Someone DID find a dovetail saw in one several years ago!!

[john davey]

Thanks for sharing this. I enjoy your posts and it amazes me the quality of the tools you have shown here. Being almost a foot shorter than you I might have some issues pushing this guy around but it is still a work of art :)....Thanks again, John

[Don Orr]

Awesome! Beautiful work as always.

[john brenton]

Ok, now that I look at it it is clearly carved in. Nice.


If you mean the ribbon,I just carved it in a little over 1/32"+ deep. It just looks stamped. I could make the stamp,of course,but haven't a lot of use for a big one like that,and it would be VERY HARD to drive a big stamp like that into the wood. Then,I punched my name in with individual letters with serifs. I don't have a name stamp with my name in a curve (actually,I DO now,if I ground away the rest of the information,now outdated,that is on the stamp. (it says my name,and Jon Laubach's name,and makers in Wmsbg. Va on it. From the Toolmaker's shop years. Maybe I should do that.

[george wilson]

Matthew,here is another plane handle,showing a good form for the front of the handle also.

[Joe Fabbri]

George,

That's a great looking plane. Really nice work on the tote there, and the diamond strike is very attractive.

Thanks for sharing once again.

Joe

[Christian Castillo]

Hi George, I love the plane, I've been too hung up on trying to source some suitable beech for plane making, after having read some of your comments on plane making woods and seeing this fine example of a plane, I'm going to look for some maple instead. On letting the plane soak in some oil, may you please explain the benefit of doing so? Is this something that should be done to all wooden planes?

Christian

[Matthew N. Masail]

Thank you George! it's very kind of you to look it up :) I'd also appreciate more info about the oil, can it be done with Tung oil? I feel bad asking, but they say it's silly not to learn from a master when you can!

[Jim Belair]

The plane is also loaded with raw linseed oil. I clamped the empty body down,and put window putty in the bottom of the throat. Window putty does the best job of keeping the oil from leaking out the bottom of the plane,though a small amount will leak. It took several escapements full of oil as the oil bled clear through both ends of the plane. This added to the heft.


I understand this raw oil saturation is often done with Japanese planes (kanna) as well. I'm no expert but after reading about it elsewhere, did it to the one kanna I own and it seemed to work (i.e., added a finish and weight and stopped bleeding after a few months).

A striking piece of work George.

[george wilson]

I never used tung oil,but I suppose it could be used. However,tung oil takes several days to dry,and I hope you don't get into trouble with the tung oil bleeding out of the wood excessively. Raw linseed oil dries up nicely after making its way clear through the body of the plane,and I never had a problem with it bleeding out onto my projects later on after it had dried.

I hope that new wood will accept the oil as well as the OLD planes I have used it on. The maple on this plane was probably 100 years old. As I mentioned,I made it out of an unfinished bed post turning that was so old that the maple had turned a pretty dark brown color-about like a bread crust,so it was quite old. This color was only on the surface though. The brown color of this plane was from the dark brown varnish I made and applied to it,if you read the original information.

I also hope the tung oil will not leak through the window putty that you cram into the bottom of the plane's throat after clamping it to a board. The tung oil is thinner than raw linseed oil, takes a lot longer to dry,and I think this may be a real problem. It is even a problem keeping the raw linseed oil from leaking.

All things considered,I advise you to use raw linseed oil if at all possible.

Jim,the oil does add weight to the plane,and lubricates the sole as well.

I just remembered that your plane is laminated,Matthew. Maybe it would be best to NOT use oil on it at all. It would perhaps not cross the glue lines,and it might be bad for the glue. I never oil impregnated a laminated plane body.

[Derek Cohen]

Well George, I'm only a year late to this thread! I cannot imagine how I missed it the first time around.

That is one stunning, mean jointer. I just love the line of the curves in the tote. They are simply elegant.

Beautiful, beautiful work.

Incidentally, you mentioned the blade is 3/16" thick. I assume it is tapered - yes? And what is the width (of the blade). Any idea of the total weight?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Matthew N. Masail]

I never used tung oil,but I suppose it could be used. However,tung oil takes several days to dry,and I hope you don't get into trouble with the tung oil bleeding out of the wood excessively. Raw linseed oil dries up nicely after making its way clear through the body of the plane,and I never had a problem with it bleeding out onto my projects later on after it had dried.

I hope that new wood will accept the oil as well as the OLD planes I have used it on. The maple on this plane was probably 100 years old. As I mentioned,I made it out of an unfinished bed post turning that was so old that the maple had turned a pretty dark brown color-about like a bread crust,so it was quite old. This color was only on the surface though. The brown color of this plane was from the dark brown varnish I made and applied to it,if you read the original information.\

I also hope the tung oil will not leak through the window putty that you cram into the bottom of the plane's throat after clamping it to a board. The tung oil is thinner than raw linseed oil, takes a lot longer to dry,and I think this may be a real problem. It is even a problem keeping the raw linseed oil from leaking.

All things considered,I advise you to use raw linseed oil if at all possible.

Jim,the oil does add weight to the plane,and lubricates the sole as well.

I just remembered that your plane is laminated,Matthew. Maybe it would be best to NOT use oil on it at all. It would perhaps not cross the glue lines,and it might be bad for the glue. I never oil impregnated a laminated plane body.

I was worried about the glue lines... but I didn't want to open ANOTHER post. what do you think about sanding sealer and wax? or JUST wax?

and thank you for the info on the oil, hardware stores here sell linseed oil that is meant for construction lumber, and I hear it is harmful health wise. is this the raw oil your talking about?

[george wilson]

I don't know about linseed oil that is harmful to your health. What is harmful?? Don't drink it,or avoid skin contact?? This is a new one on me. Are they putting something harmful in it? I mean,you should never eat linseed oil from the hardware store since it has driers added to it.

[Zach Dillinger]

Regular raw linseed oil isn't harmful; its sold in health food stores as flaxseed oil. However, the hardware store stuff contains a bunch of nasty stuff. I won't touch it in my shop, as every time I've used it in the past, I would get a terrible headache. Figure that can't be good. The headache never happens with raw.

[george wilson]

I am fully aware of hardware linseed oil. I used it all my life,but didn't get headaches(though I am prone to migraines anyway). These days I use blue nitrile gloves around many substances.

I took to using edible linseed oil in my varnish research back in the 70's. It is MUCH clearer than the hardware stuff. However,it will not dry unless you polymerize it,which I did,but it can be a dangerous proposition for the newbie at it.

First of all,it MUST be done out of doors,NEVER inside. A fireball will happen in an instant should anything go wrong. If the oil gets too hot,it can foam up out of the pot and make a huge fireball.

Second,I only ever used a hot plate,NEVER an open flame. But,the oil will catch fire anyway if it foams up. I ended up using the deepest containers I could find,but still had a few fires anyway.

Controlled LOW simmering is what is needed. About 20 minutes of SLOW simmering will turn the oil a deep golden color,and it is polymerized and will dry.

I told a young,hardheaded know it all newbie in the Historic Area to never heat linseed oil indoors. He did it anyway,and nearly burned down a historic area building. What can you do. I'd have fired him for that.

Once you have made your edible oil polymerize,use it to fill your plane. Frankly,I don't think it is necessary. Just wear NITRILE gloves(oil goes right through latex gloves: They are full of tiny holes.) Fill your plane and let it bleed out through both ends,and let it dry. I have many planes so treated,and I am fine with them.

When I was Musical Instrument Maker,my wife always liked the way I smelled. When I became tool maker,the smell wasn't there. On an occasion when I had been using linseed oil,she got that smell again !! How peculiar! I never liked the smell that linseed oil left on my skin!!

[Zach Dillinger]

Wives can be strange. Mine hates the smell of linseed oil, but loves the smell of paste wax. Who knows?

I've heated the raw but always been nervous. I've also tried some of the experiments suggested by Stephen Shepherd and they do work. Made some sun-cured oil a while back, and I'm still using that batch.

Sometimes, I do rub the raw oil in quite vigorously, which seems to help, I never really flood the surface, instead just rub in a bunch of very thin coats. Works quite well, dries fine. I'm sure if I flooded the surface I'd have drying problems.

[Roderick Gentry]

Japanese use tung in the same way. So you can do it. I used to oil my planes. But later I found some Japanese tool users who did not oil their planes at all. They like to keep them perfectly in tune, so they would just leave the wood bare so they could tweak them at will. But if you actually get oil in everywhere, you should be in much the same condition relative to maintaining for wear.

[Roderick Gentry]

I have made quite a few planes in maple. I really like it. Those who prefer beech do say it works better and is more stable. I cut some and it has dried far faster than other woods I have tried which is supposed to be due to a structure that allows moisture to equalize more evenly. I have lost very little of the beech I cut, and I have not seen any dimensional changes. The squares have not even gone diamond shaped. I figured I would make all these planes I have planed out of beech because it is authentic. But I don't even know about that. If so many of the planes used in NA were made in Europe, maybe the beech I have over here is not really authentic anyway. Anyway, it's all cut. :)

[george wilson]

We cut 5000 bd. ft. of beech when I first became toolmaker. It was in about 12' lengths. We air dried it in the attic of a very large garage in the Historic Area. That stuff twisted everywhere it could. Much worse than any other hardwood I have ever seen. Even after several years,we had trouble with it twisting after we took a piece and jointed and planed it up square. Maple is much more stable.

I think beech was used in the old days because it was abundant and cheap.

[Chris Scimone]

Morning All, I've been enjoying this revival of hand made plane threads. To offer another perspective - here's a link to an article at Old Street Tools (formerly Clark & Williams) that speaks to some of the desirable attributes of beech. http://www.planemaker.com/articles_beech.html

It does recognize both the drying challenges you speak of, and the suitability of other hardwoods for the job. But it makes a case that beech had its place in commercial plane making.

All that said, I think well selected, dried stock of either maple or beech (and probably some others) is going to make a plane that exceeds our lifetimes.

Of course, what do I know? You both have been making planes since before I was born. ;)

[george wilson]

I make planes out of beech just because it is traditional,and I was copying 18th.C. originals for the museum. However,I can't see why maple isn't just as good.It is harder. I think it really is a matter of the availability of beech. The English also used it to make cheap furniture from. Years ago I used to go to a local auction where they imported antique English furniture,and I saw a lot of Queen Ann chairs made of beech stained mahogany color.

I've told the story of how we had to make a long cooper's jointer. The beech we had was probably 10 years air dried by this time. We started with a 6"X6" and planed it up true. It twisted into a propeller after acclimating for some months in the shop. We kept truing it up again and again,just enough to get the twist out. It twisted each time. Finally,just as we got it down to a 4"x4",the smallest size we could use for the plane,it finally quit twisting. This had gone on for well over a year,trying to get the twist out. Beech is a miserably unstable wood!!!!!

[Kees Heiden]

European Beech seems to be a bit better behaved. But i have now heard from several professionals who refuse to make wide tables, countertops or flooring from solid beech.

But I have no problem at all with my vintage beech planes. Occasionally a bulge develops behind the edge but it's quickly removed with a sharp plane.

[george wilson]

For planes of the normal size,it hasn't been a problem. Just with the cooper's jointers that are several feet long.

[Kees Heiden]

Yes that sounds reasonable.

Btw, i like that big jointer a lot too. The English shape of the tote is very nice.